Bulletin. . .A U T U M N 2 0 0 6

Head’s LinesDear Readers

As ever, it has been a pleasure towelcome new and returning pupils andstaff at the start of a fresh academicyear and the School is once againbuzzing with activity, both in and out ofthe classroom. Many of our Upper Sixthleavers returned for a special afternoontea on 13th September – an opportunityto catch up on recent news and viewsbefore taking up their University or gap-year places. Details of their outstandingA-level results, together with those atGCSE-level of this year’s Lower Sixth, aregiven herein.

This Bulletin also gives a flavour of themany successful trips, in-schoolactivities, and individual pupilachievements over the summer weeks.

The imminent launch of our new websiteprompts me to welcome parents andSenior Club members to contact theSchool by email. Messages sent tooffice@withington.manchester.sch.ukwill be forwarded to the appropriatemember of staff.

Just before the start of term, fourteenpaintings that constitute the inauguralworks in The Bain Art Collection werehung in various locations around theSchool. Miss Bain was Headmistress ofWithington Girls’ School from 1938-1961 and the Collection, named in herhonour, was made possible by the saleof a painting by her personal friend, theacclaimed Scottish artist Anne Redpath,given to the School by Miss Bain. Theofficial opening of The Art Collectiontakes place on October 5th and parentsand friends of the School will be invitedto a viewing at the end of the Schoolday. Full details will be sent separatelybut please note this date in your diaries.We look forward to welcoming you notonly to this event but also to all otheractivities throughout the term, includingPTA and Senior Club AGMs andFounders’ Day.

Withington Girls ’ School , Well ington Road, Fal lowfield, Manchester M14 6BL.Tel : 0161 224 1077 Fax : 0161 248 5377

Email : office@withington.manchester.sch.uk Web: www.withington.manchester.sch.ukRegistered Charity No. 526632

Editor: Mr Ray King Publicity OfficerMobile: 07768 022 082

DO CALL US [BEFORE WE CALL YOU!]Pupil absence: Please would all parents use 0161 249 3476 to inform the school of pupil absence before 8.30am on each day of absence.

For contact after school please use these numbers: Senior Late Room: 0161 249 3492 Junior Late Room: 0161 224 1077

Remarkable Results!OUTSTANDING performances in A-level and GCSE examinations in 2006 confirmed Withington’s status asone of the top five schools nationally.

A 100% pass rate at A-Level with 95.1% of all papers awarded A and B grades, saw the school placedthird in the Daily Telegraph National League Table and a record-equalling score of 94.4% of GCSE papersgaining A*/A grades secured fifth position.

The A-level achievement means that every Sixth Former holding a conditional university offer is able to goto the University of her firm choice. This year’s leavers are entering top Universities across the UK tostudy a wide range of courses; 18 out of a total of 82 will be joining Oxford and Cambridge Colleges.

The excellence of the collective results included many notable individual achievements in both A-Level andGCSE examinations. A total of 14 pupils received Top Candidate Awards and their 20 Awards covered tendifferent subjects.

Hannah Darke was amongst the Top Ten who achieved the highest overall marks in Drama and TheatreStudies in the first year the subject was offered at Withington at full A-Level.

Thirteen GCSE candidates gained one of the top five marks nationally:

Eleanor Morris (French, German and Mathematics), Alex Caulfield (History and Mathematics), MelissaHussey (History and Mathematics), Maral Rouhani (German and Chemistry), Sophie Allweiss (EnglishLiterature and Mathematics), Charlotte Hughes (Spanish), Meng Ying Dong (Mathematics), Becky Foxler(Double Award Science), Olivia Atkinson (History), Lucy Green (History), Lucy Jones (French), Laura Cress(English Literature), and Neda Taghinejadi (Mathematics).

Overall 62 girls, 78% of the 79-strong year group, gained all A* and A grades.

Pearl von Herder achieved A* GCSE results in Russian and German taken one year early and Meng YingDong gained an A in A-Level Chinese two years early, having obtained an A at AS last year and A* at GCSEin 2004. Angela Li, who arrived in the UK only two years ago, achieved A grades in AS Chinese andMathematics a year early.

Continued inside.

Biology Field TripThe Upper Sixth Biologists had an early start to the new school year, spending the final week of theholiday on the Biology Field Trip. The girls spent their time at a residential field centre outsideBetws y Coed in North Wales, studying the range of beautiful and diverse habitats in the area.Sunny days were spent in ancient woodland, freshwater streams and in the sand dunes at Harlech.

The week culminated in a very wet mountain day looking at conservation issues in the NationalPark of Snowdonia.

Arriving back at school after such a busy and tiring week, the girls had the satisfaction of knowingthat their A2 coursework was complete.

Lacrosse in PragueWithington’s senior Lacrosse squad chalked up a string of impressive victories before securing fourth placeoverall in an International Tournament in Prague in July.

Encouraged by a ‘play your best and have fun’ team talk from Miss Day, Withington took on thetournament favourites, the Czech Republic, in the first match and ran out surprise 10-9 winners.

The next match was equally close, though this time Withington lost a tough encounter with theAmericans from the Institute of Notre Dame (IND), Baltimore, 6-7.

Following a sightseeing tour to Wenceslas Square in the centre of Prague, Withington came face to facewith Hong Kong and then The Alice Ottley School (Worcester) and rattled up convincing victories of 11-1and 10-0 respectively.

The latter stages of the tournament, however, proved more difficult. Withington’s close 2-3 semi-finaldefeat by the Czechs was followed by a 5-7 upset against IND in the play-off for 3rd place.

Welcome to Withington!The school extended a very warm welcome to the following key

members of staff who took up their posts at the start of this term.

Mrs Fletcher’s maternity leave- she is due to give birth totwins in October – is beingcovered by two members ofstaff. Mrs Sylvia Morris joinsus from Altrincham Girls’ toteach Maths and Mrs PhillipaFrankland, a specialist atrounders, netball andtrampolining joins usfollowing appointments atAltrincham and Loreto.

Mr Ian McKenna arrived from theQueen’s School, Chester, to teachReligious and General Studies. A keenclimber, walker and singer, he ran thefootball team at Queen’s and may joinMr Syrus in coaching our budding soccerstars.

Dr Cristina Vilela, who has joined the

Biology staff, came to England from

Lisbon, and gained her PhD in Molecular

Biology at the University of Manchester,

where she taught and also worked as a

research scientist.

Mrs Zoë Goldman has joined us as thenew head of CDT from Henbury HighSchool, Macclesfield. Mrs Goldman isexcited about introducing computer-aided design into the CDT Curriculum.

Mr Stephen Boddy is establishing A-

Level Economics at Withington. A

graduate of St Catherine’s, Oxford, his

previous post was at Shelley College,

Huddersfield. Mr Boddy will also teach

Politics, Philosophy and General Studies.

Mr David Critchlow, our new ArtTechnician graduated at BradfordUniversity in Pottery and Ceramics andruns ceramics workshops for specialneeds children.

Part-time teacher Mrs Jacinta Johnson

joined the English department in the

middle of the Spring term from Further

Education in Trafford. A graduate of St

Mary’s College, London, she taught at

Bury Grammar School for Boys and has

a passion for the theatre.

Withington is now a family affair forBursar’s Assistant Mrs Penny Willis andher husband Terry, who has switchedcareers after 30 years in food productionmanagement to become the school’sAfter-School Co-ordinator.

Miss Niamh Neary has joined us from

St Bede’s College as our Transition Form

Teacher, in charge of Junior girls just

embarking on their Withington careers.

Miss Neary is also co-ordinating English

teaching across the Junior School.

Some of our top award candidates

End of an era

The end of last term marked the closeof an era as the Chair of Withington’sGoverning Body, Professor KatharinePerera, retired from the post aftereight years and has served on theGoverning Body since 1995.

Professor Perera, who has also retiredfrom the Linguistics Department andfrom the role of Senior Pro ViceChancellor at the University ofManchester, has returned there on apart-time basis to develop a Women inLeadership project.

She said of Withington: “I have enjoyedenormously my time as a member of theGoverning Body and being Chair ofGovernors. It’s been a delight to beassociated with the school.

I have loved talking to the girls andcoming to listen to their wonderfulmusical performances.

Withington is outstanding in so manyways, not only for academicachievement but also for the way thegirls are all encouraged to develop theirtalents and become assured youngwomen.

I very much admire the way the staffallow them that independence; a goodexample is the Charity Fashion Show forwhich the girls find sponsors, arrangethe programme, choreography, soundand lighting themselves.”

Mrs Pickering said: “Professor Perera washighly valued for her wonderful skills inchairing meetings, her intelligence,breadth of vision, calm and consultativestyle and her genuine interest in andlove of the school.

Founders’ Day will provide theopportunity to give a public expressionof thanks and we are delighted thatProfessor Perera will be opening our newmulti-media Language Laboratory at theschool on September 29.”

Information about our new Chair ofGovernors, Mrs Elizabeth Lee, and theother members of the Governing Bodywill be published in following editions.

Senior girlsIntroducing… Withington’s new HeadGirl, Brigette Manion (centre) and hertwo Deputies, Leanne Royle (left) andAlice Wright.

Congratulations...Congratulations…..to the new Mrs JaneArthan, formerly Miss Dutton, Biologyteacher, who married estate managerDavid in Shropshire on August 5th.

Withington OnlineThe school’s new website is beinglaunched this term incorporatinginteractive features in an easier-to-navigate format.

The site will include a new alumnaesection enabling former pupils to keep intouch with old friends and there will belots of news and useful onlineinformation for parents.

The web address remains the same:www.withington.manchester.sch.uk

ChineseThe school is to offer lessons in Chineselanguage and culture during lunchtimesessions for both Senior and Junior girls.

Four classes – two on Mondays and two on Tuesdays – each lasting about 30 minutes, will be led by a qualifiedteacher from the ManchesterChinese Centre.

A class for staff will take place afterschool on Wednesdays.

Withington was abuzz with Sport, Art, Music and even Japanese.

In August, the most successful tennis camp yet staged at the school climaxed three weeks of intensivesummer holiday activities for boys and girls across the community.

In July and early August, the school staged the ultimate music challenge - more than 100 boys and girls,played and composed during two week-long music courses, directed by Tim Chatterton and RebeccaThompson of the NCO.

Two week-long Art courses, part of the Govermnent’s Independent State School Partnership Scheme,took place with one week being hosted at Whalley Range High School for Girls and the second week atWithington.

The Japanese Summer School, funded by government agency Excellence in Cities and led by Mrs GillianWinter, saw 24 of the brightest 12-year-olds, selected from Manchester’s state schools, spend a week of their summer holidays exercising their brains with philosophy and Japanese Language and Culture.

Continued from front page.

Special congratulations also go to Rachel Kean of the Lower Sixth who scored the top mark in Philosophyout of all the students on a prestigious Harvard Summer School.

Jessica Brush of the current Upper Sixth took part in a Smallpeice Trust four-day residential course duringthe summer and also undertook a Nuffield Bursary Research placement at Manchester University. HannahWoods of the Lower Fifth took part in a Smallpeice Trust Aerospace residential course at RAF Cranwell andKristina Milanovic is the proud holder of an Arkwright Scholarship.

Congratulations also go to Catherine Slater and Emily Harding who were involved in the five-star-ratedBlack Comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and to Charlotte Paul for tripping the light fantastic in thePalace Theatre’s production of South Pacific.

Who says school’s out for summer?Who says school’s out for summer? ShineWithington is to open one of its new science labs to 26 gifted andtalented children from local state primary schools.

In partnership with the government initiative Excellence in Cities, the school successfully applied to the educational charity SHINE forfunding for Saturday morning Science classes starting in October.

The classes for 10-year-old boys and girls, delivered by specialist teachers from Withington and local maintained schools, will run for 20 weeks each year for three years.

Rowena Owen, recently retired from the Biology Department, will manage the programme.

It is the first time SHINE has funded an initiative devoted entirely to the teaching of Science within its ‘Serious Fun on Saturdays’ programme.

Ruth Dwyer, Grants Manager for SHINE said: “We are particularly pleased to be able to use the resourcesand facilities of a school like Withington which is far more advanced in Junior Science provision thanstate-sector primary schools.”

Richard Fye, manager of Excellence in Cities, Manchester, said: “The major plank of our work is to beinnovative and creative and to get kids from disadvantaged backgrounds into higher education.Withington is enthusiastically and wholeheartedly sharing its high-quality resources with Manchester.”

Battlefields Trip - July 2006“Maher and Neal’s Battalion on Wheels” set off for the battlefields of Flanders on July 10th just after termended. For five days, 31 girls together with Ms Maher, Mrs Neal and Mrs Finlow visited key sites in theYpres and Somme area – places devastated by the effects of war between1914 and 1918.

Rhineland 2006The second week in July saw the first joint Withington Girls’ and William Hulme’s Grammar trip to theRhineland area of Germany, when 36 pupils from Years 9 and 10 spent an interesting few days in thisbeautiful part of the “Vaterland”.

Excursions included a mini cruise on the great river, a visit to a wine cellar, a cable car ride, trips toGermany’s oldest towns, Trier and Koblenz, and a visit to Cochem and its lofty castle on the River Mosel.

Duke of Edinburgh’s AwardQualifying expeditions for Duke of Edinburgh’s Goldand Silver Award took place at both ends of thesummer holidays.

Both suffered from bad weather but the girls copedcheerfully, as always, despite many paths - and onecampsite – turning into rivers.

Twenty-four girls (now Lower VI) completed theirSilver and 21 (now Upper VI) completed Gold this summer.